We last spoke in February 2000, shortly after the announcement that your YA novel Hard Love had been named a Printz Honor Book. Looking back, in what ways did that recognition change your career? How about your own attitude and approach to your books and publishing?

Maybe the most important thing that winning the Printz Honor Award did was make me feel legitimate in my own eyes. Even though it was my third YA novel, winning a major prize gave me a feeling of acceptance in the field that I hadn't had before. Suddenly I felt confident about saying, "Yes, this is what I do--I write novels for teenagers."

I'm not really sure how it changed my career. I guess it gave me a certain amount of clout with my publisher that I didn't have before, but then, clout is not anything I know what to do with anyway, so I probably wasted it.

And I was as proud, if not more proud, of winning the Lambda Book Award that year too. That was flabbergasting. It made me believe that I could go outside the boundaries of my white, straight, female, middle-class self and write about the characters who really interested me.

Gracie's Girl is the story of 11-year-old Bess whose wonderful parents are so busy helping the less fortunate that they sometimes don't have time for her. Bess reluctantly gets involved with the building of a homeless shelter in her town and meets Gracie, an elderly woman who's been sleeping on the loading dock of a furniture store and eating out of the supermarket dumpster. Despite her misgivings, Bess has to help Gracie. This idea was born because my own children regularly spent time helping out at a local soup kitchen, and I realized just how much helping other people was also helping THEM.

What's in a Name is a novel in ten short stories, each of which is narrated by a different teenager at Scrub Harbor High School. The town has been divided into those people who want to change its name to the more classy-sounding "Folly Bay" and those whose families have lived in Scrub Harbor for generations and have no intention of changing it to anything else. This battle reaches down into the high school and kids find themselves lining up along class lines. It's also a book about stereotypes. The chapters are written by "the jock," "the gay kid," "the artist," "the new guy," "the politician," etc. But as the reader gets to know what the person is really like underneath, how they feel personally, it's harder to pigeonhole them. The impetus for the book was to take some of the high school stereotypes and break them down. Kids so often deal with each other as their stereotypes and not as real people, so I wanted my characters to confront each other and find out the truths behind the stereotypes.

Razzle was an entirely character-driven book. I'd been spending time on Cape Cod, in Truro and Provincetown, where I used to live, and I wanted to set a book there and people it with some of the offbeat characters who live in a place like that, at the end of the earth. I was at the town dump when I began to imagine Razzle working there, who she was, where she lived, and how she became an artist. The book grew entirely from that character--a girl who has little money, few friends, and a sparse and oddball family--but a great imagination and a lot of heart.

The Long Night of Leo and Bree is loosely based on an incident that happened to a friend of mine. After the tragic murder of his sister, Leo's family falls apart, his mother becomes a drunk, and Leo himself begins to feel more than a little crazy with guilt. On a particularly bad night, he sees Bree out walking alone and kidnaps her with the initial idea of killing her as a kind of replacement for his sister. Instead, the two spend a long night locked together in a basement, figuring out what's gone wrong and whether there is any way to save themselves.

Zigzag is the road trip novel I'd been wanting to write for awhile. There's nothing like piling a group of people into a car and taking off for the great, empty western states. Of course, when the people are your grieving, crazy aunt and two cousins, the results could be unexpected. Robin is not in good shape herself as she tries to come to terms with the possibility that, between her boyfriend's summer in Europe and his beginning college halfway across the country, she may be losing the love of her life. I wanted to show Robin (and my readers) that there's always more excitement in life than you might think--you just have to look for it and grab it when you see it.

Heart on My Sleeve is written entirely in emails, Instant Messages, letters and postcards. It began as almost an exercise, to see if I could do it. And it was loads of fun. Chloe meets Julian at a college pre-frosh weekend in the spring. They like each other a lot and begin an email correspondence that lasts over the summer until they see each other again in August. They also correspond with friends and relatives during this time, both of them excited about what they feel is their burgeoning romance. I wanted to write a story about how we reveal ourselves to other people. When and how we tell the truth, and how we can misread each other's words so that we hear what we want to hear.

I'd like to focus on your latest release, Sandpiper (Simon & Schuster, 2005). Could you tell us a bit about the story?

Sandpiper is a girl whose been in a downward spiral the last few years. In an attempt to attract boys, she began having oral sex with them in middle school, but somehow her relationships never seemed to move past that point. By her second year of high school, she's sick of herself, sick of the boys, and furious with her father who also has trouble seeing beyond her suddenly voluptuous body. She meets a mysterious boy who she's seen walking all over town. He won't tell her his name so she just calls him The Walker. It's clear he has secrets he won't tell anyone, but Sandpiper is ready to divulge her secrets, and, because he seems so serious, even wise, she decides maybe The Walker is person who can help her figure things out.

What was the initial inspiration for creating this book?

There's been so much written lately about middle-school age girls performing oral sex on boys. It seems to have become almost an emotionless rite-of-passage. It seemed to me this couldn't be good for these girls in the long run, for their self-esteem, or for their feelings about their own bodies. I wanted to follow it through and see what happens to a girl like that when she's a little older. The story of The Walker is based on a story I heard (not to give anything away) which also seemed to be the kind of trauma a teenager would be hard pressed to recover from.

What was the timeline from spark to publication, and what were the major events along the way?

Most of my books take a year, more or less, to write. I didn't do much research for this book, so it may have taken a little less. It was fairly smooth sailing until the end which I rewrote several different ways. I wanted drama, but not melodrama--sometimes that's a difficult line to walk. And what kind of relationship did I want these two to have by the end? Would I make it clear or leave it up in the air? Would there be a trial? Those were the hard questions.

What were the challenges (literary, research, psychological, and logistical) in bringing it to life?

One of the challenges was to write a poem in Sandpiper's voice to end each of the chapters. I'd really wanted to do this in a book for a while, and I thought it suited Sandpiper better than any other character I'd had. I started my writing life as a poet, so it was fun to dig back into that way of expressing myself. But, of course, it wasn't really "my" poetry, it was hers, so that was sometimes a struggle. Did the poems sound too much like MY poetry? What was HER voice like?

The other difficulty was deciding how much to say about Sandpiper's sexual experiences. I didn't want to shy away from that aspect of things because, after all, that was the impetus for the book. But I think, as a YA writer, you're always very aware of where the line is. Will this sentence keep the book out of high schools? Middle schools? Is it worth that? I want the book to be widely read--I think this topic is very relevant to kids today--but dealing directly with a subject like this can whittle down the number of kids who ever have access to the book.

Of your own recent reads for the children's/YA audience, which are your favorites and why?

As you can probably tell from this list, character is ALL for me. Well, character and humor, which all of these writers do very well. I don't care what the character is doing (although I know I should) as long as they invite me into their engaging minds. Oh, and my very, very favorite YA book, now 15 years old, is Celine by Brock Cole (Farrar Straus Giroux, 1989). Every character in that book is fabulous and hilarious, even when they're poignant and sad.

What can your fans expect from you next?

In summer 2006 a novel called Blind Faith will be out. It's about how people deal with death, and particularly about the MCs mother who turns to a Spiritualist church to try to contact her dead mother's spirit. Then in 2007, Parrotfish will be out. I can't wait for this one--it's the most fun I've had writing a book in ages. It's about a female-to-male transgendered boy coming to terms with his identity in high school. And it's funny.

Cheryl Harness, author-illustrator of The Remarkable Benjamin Franklin (National Geographic, 2005), is the featured author of the month at Embracing the Child. See also the featured illustrator, Frank Ordaz.

I'm blogging lately on Spookycyn about chocolates, Christmas, tea, and the perils of brainstorming a manuscript while walking on the treadmill.

Greg and I gave signed copies of Mr. Chickee's Funny Money to our critique group for the holidays. We spoke on a program also featuring Christopher Paul Curtis at Star-Lit: A Children's Literary Festival in Dallas this past November.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Hyperion, 2005). From the promo copy: "What if the gods of Olympus were alive in the 21rst Century? What if they still fell in love with mortals and had children who might become great heroes -- like Theseus, Jason and Hercules? What if you were one of those children? Such is the discovery that launches twelve-year-old Percy Jackson on the most dangerous quest of his life. With the help of a satyr and a daughter of Athena, Percy must journey across the United States to catch a thief who has stolen the original weapon of mass destruction – Zeus’ master bolt. Along the way, he must face a host of mythological enemies determined to stop him. Most of all, he must come to terms with a father he has never known, and an Oracle that has warned him of betrayal by a friend." Ages 10-up.

Rick Riordan was a middle school teacher for 15 years in Texas and California. His first adult mystery novel, Big Red Tequila, was published in 1997. Since then, his Tres Navarre private investigator series has won the Edgar, Anthony and Shamus Awards. His short fiction has appeared in Mary Higgins Clark Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. His first book for children, The Lightning Thief, was named a New Times Notable Book for 2005 and one of the best books of the year by School Library Journal and Child Magazine. It has been optioned for feature film by Twentieth Century Fox. Rick now writes full time. He lives in San Antonio, Texas with his wife and two sons.

What was your initial inspiration for writing this book?

My son was eight years old at the time, and having a hard year in school. He'd just been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, and he didn't like much in school except Greek mythology. I'd taught the Greek myths for years in sixth grade, so I tried to capitalize on his interest by telling him bedtime stories from the myths. When I ran out of myths, he asked me to make up a new one. Off the top of my head, I created Percy Jackson, a modern kid with ADHD and dyslexia who finds out that his real father is the god Poseidon.

What was the timeline from spark to publication, and what were the major events along the way?

After I told the story, my son asked me to write it down. I spent a year doing that. I didn't tell anyone I was doing it except my immediate family. It was surprisingly easy to write. Some stories just come out more naturally than others. When I was done, I sent it out under a pseudonym, because I wanted the book to stand or fall on its own merits. I immediately got agent, who got multiple offers within a few weeks. I wish publishing was always that easy!

What were the challenges (literary, research, psychological, and logistical) in bringing it to life? Were your experiences as an author of adult mysteries and/or as a classroom teacher helpful? If so, how?

The main challenge was finding time to write, since I was already doing a book a year and teaching full-time. But as I tell aspiring writers all the time, if you really want to do something, you somehow manage to find the time.

Writing adult mysteries before The Lightning Thief was certainly helpful. I knew I could write a novel. I understood the mechanics of creating scenes and dialogue. My teaching experience was also indispensable.

While I was writing the book, I imagined my students as my audience. It helped me get the pace and the tone right. I knew middle school kids well. I knew what they found exciting and funny, and what they found boring.

In addition to your Web site, you also offer a blog to your readers. How would you describe the overall content and your approach to it?

The blog is nothing fancy. I add things to it as I have the time. I like the blog format because it's less formal -- like an on-line journal/scrapbook where I can store random thoughts, pictures, reviews, interesting news articles. I have fun with it, but I don't spend a lot of time with it. I imagine my readers would rather have me spend my time finishing the next book, not writing blog articles!

What can your fans look forward to next?

The next Percy Jackson book, The Sea of Monsters, will be out in April 2006. There will be three more books in the Percy series. I'm also working on two more Tres Navarre adult mysteries.

Cynsational Notes

Awards and Honors for The Lightning Thief include: A Best Book of 2005, School Library Journal; A New York Times Notable Book of 2005; A Best Book of 2005, Child Magazine; Bluebonnet Award Nominee 2006, Texas Library Association; Askews Torchlight Award Shortlist, 2006.

Friday, December 23, 2005

My husband, Greg Leitich Smith, and I plan to stay in Austin and have a quiet holiday at home. We're having chicken-and-lobster cooked together for dinner on Christmas Eve and turkey on Christmas Day. Our guests this coming week include my cousin Elizabeth, who'll be arriving from New York City where she works as a teacher. I dedicated my first novel, Rain Is Not My Indian Name (HarperCollins, 2001), to Elizabeth.

I also look forward to my 38th birthday on New Year's Eve. When I was a little girl, I thought that the whole world was celebrating me that night.

Guess who was an only child?

Cynsational News & Links

Congratulations to illustrator Don Tate, whose picture book manuscript was an honor winner of the Lee & Low New Voices Award Honor winner!

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick (Scholastic, 2004)(read excerpt). Thirteen-year-old Steven's life is all about playing drums for the All-Star Jazz Band, worshipping queen bee Renee Albert, and enduring the annoying attentions of his baby brother Jeffrey. But then Jeffrey is diagnosed with leukemia, and everything changes--the family routine, family finances, parent-son relationships, even Steven's popularity at school. Funny and touching, this tremendous debut novel is a story of life and death, loves lost and found, and an affecting inner journey. It doesn't miss a beat. Ages 10-up. CYALR HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.

What was your initial inspiration for creating this book?

I teach 8th grade English in New Jersey. One of my students had a younger brother who was being treated for cancer. I wrote this book because when I went to find a book that would help my student to deal with her family's crisis, I couldn't find one.

What was the timeline between spark and publication, and what were the major events along the way?

I wrote the novel very quickly: two weeks of research and ten weeks of frantic word processing. For those twelve weeks, life was a whirl of teaching all day, parenting all evening, and then writing from the time the kids went to bed until I finally collapsed into bed myself.

I finished the book in April of 2003, and signed the original publishing contract on July 1 of that year -- so the path to publication looked rosy.

Then my first publisher, a lovely small literary press called DayBue Publishing, went out of business in June 2004, just three weeks after they released Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie in hardcover.

Thankfully, the book was nominated for BBYA and selected as a Fall 2004 BookSense pick within days of my publisher's closing, so I was able to turn around very quickly and negotiate a deal with Scholastic to reprint it. They also bought my second novel for young adults, which I had just finished, so things turned out better than I could have imagined.

What were the challenges (literary, research, psychological, and logistical) in bringing it to life?

The research task was massive; I wanted to write about cancer realistically enough that the book would stand up to the most intense scrutiny from people who knew EVERYTHING about cancer. Fortunately, my childhood best friend is a pediatric oncologist, so he was my research guru. The literary and logistical challenges were no different from those faced by any first-time novelist with a family and a demanding day job.

The psychological part was the real kicker. When I was writing this book, I "borrowed" the wonderful personality of the younger brother from my son, Ross, who was five at the time. It was truly wrenching to put this beautiful paper child, who "felt" like my son to me, through the agonies of cancer treatment.

You do a wonderful job of balancing comedy and tragedy. What is the role of humor in a novel with serious themes?

Well, Frank McCourt was my high school creative writing teacher, and what I learned in Mr. McCourt's class (and, later on, from reading Angela's Ashes [Scribner, 1996][winner of the Pulitzer Prize]) is that people laugh a lot during the saddest times in their lives -- or at least, resilient people do. And that laughter is the cornerstone of the healing process, at least for me.

Plus, thankfully, I've never met anyone who was sad 24/7/365. So even the most serious novel should have some humor in it, I think, if only for veracity!

Your protagonist, Steven, is age 13, which arguably puts this novel in the 'tweener category. What are the particular challenges of reflecting this age group? How about marketing a book that isn't clearly middle grade or upper YA?

You know what? When I told my older sister I was writing a funny novel about a 13-year-old whose little brother has cancer, she said, "Sounds like a real commercial blockbuster. Let me know how that goes!" So, needless to say, marketing was the farthest thing from my mind. I wasn't thinking "middle grade" or "YA" -- I just had to tell this particular story. The fact that the book is actually selling well is just a cosmic bonus.

This is one of the most intensely internal novels I've ever read, even though it has a strong external arc. Your technique of using italics for speech only heightens that sense of reader-character intimacy. Then in the last chapter, those quotation marks for the dialogue sound so loud, so alive, so much a part of the world. Could you talk about your process?

I truthfully have no idea how or why I chose the italics throughout, capped off by the quotation marks at the end. I just knew while I was writing that the italics were adding to the internal intensity. Then when I got to the last chapter, the quotes felt right.

I know that sounds horribly anti-analytical, but I was concentrating so hard on polishing the cancer parts and the actual wording of the dialogue that everything else was either secondary or just decided unconsciously. Just please don't tell my students or my editor that I didn't have it all 100% planned, with a detailed rationale for every move up front...

Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie is your debut novel. Could you describe your path to publication? What advice do you have for other writers traveling along the way?

As I said above, my path to publication was completely bizarre -- so I'm not sure anybody should ever get any publication pointers from me! The only real advice I have is to read a ton of books on publication, especially Judith Appelbaum's How to Get Happily Published [HarperCollins, 1998]. Also, network; tell everyone you know that you've written a book and are looking for a publisher. If nothing else, you will certainly find out who your true friends are.

What can your readers look forward to next?

I'm thrilled to announce that my second novel for young adults, Notes from the Midnight Driver, will be published by Scholastic Press in September 2006. You can read the first chapter at www.jordansonnenblick.com. For what it's worth, both my mom and my dad liked Notes better than Drums. And the author's parents must be totally unbiased, right?

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Congratulations to one of my Vermont College/UI&U MFA students, Marguerite Houle, recipient of the Houghton Mifflin Scholarship, as well as to Stephanie Green, recipient of the Anita Silvey Scholarship and Sarah Sullivan, recipient of the Harcourt Post Graduate Scholarship!

Pat Mora has brought to life an original tall tale that feels as fresh as it does timeless. The story itself is an inspiration, and her language in telling it is vivid and enchanting. Likewise, the art is breathtaking.

What's more, I cannot reveal the surprise twist in this story, but I have to say that I love it!

In addition to its charm as a story, this book would be wonderful for those seeking varied images of strong girls and women, especially given Doña Flor's giant status. She's a large, big-hearted, and beloved woman who uses her strength to protect and nuture others.

Pat Mora and Raúl Colón also are the creators of another wonderful picture book, Tomás and the Library Lady (Knopf, 1997). It received the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award, an IRA Teacher’s Choice Award, a Skipping Stones Award, and was also named a Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List title and an Americas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature commended title.

Pat is a native of El Paso, Texas, and now makes her home in Santa Fe.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Biography quoted from Jane Yolen Official Web Site: "Jane Yolen is an author of children's books, fantasy, and science fiction, including Owl Moon [Philomel, 1987], Devil's Arithmetic [Viking, 1988], and How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? [Scholastic, 2000]. She is also a poet, a teacher of writing and literature, and a reviewer of children's literature. She has been called the Hans Christian Andersen of America and the Aesop of the twentieth century. Jane Yolen's books and stories have won the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, two Christopher Medals, the World Fantasy Award, three Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards, the Golden Kite Award, the Jewish Book Award, and the Association of Jewish Libraries Award."

I was particularly taken with your recent release, Soft House, illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halprin (Candlewick, 2005). It reminded me of my own childhood, playing with my next-door-neighbor Kathryn. Could you offer some insight into the initial inspiration behind that book and any challenges you faced along its path to publication?

My children used to play Soft House and I first wrote it back 30 years ago. It went to about five editors who said nice things and didn't buy it. Five years later, I rewrote it, tried again. Same results. Five years on, ditto. Fast forward five years ago--and I sold it to Liz Bicknell at Candlewick who had me rewrite it about seven times and found the ever wonderful Wendy Halperin to illustrate. Since my children all have children of their own, I chose to name the characters after two of them, the only brother-sister pair.

My editor called it a slam dunk but I have been in the business 40 years and know there is no such thing. Normally I am your high end midlist author. But not this time. She was absolutely right. And has been right on each of the sequels as well.

I'd like to touch briefly on some books from your extensive back list. Armageddon Summer, co-authored by Bruce Coville, (Harcourt, 1998) centers on religion in the context of a millennialist cult. I remember reading it spellbound when first released. Given it's global and individual impact, why do you think books that examine faith in any context are so rare on mainstream publisher lists? What are the related challenges and opportunities?

When books were sold mainly to schools, books with faith at the core were hard sells. At first my editor at Scholastic wanted the book, but the bookclub vetoed it on religious grounds so she declined to bid in the auction. Later when it got all those starred reviews and was on everyone's list, Scholastic bought 60,000 copies for the bookclub. So good sales trumps. . .you name it!

Like many people in the children's/YA community, I spend serious brain time trying to decide what books to purchase for the children of my own family. My little cousin Alex is a huge fan of your Hop Toad, illustrated by Karen Lee Schmidt (Harcourt, 2003), written for the Pre-K audience and up. What considerations should writers keep in mind when crafting stories for the youngest readers?

Picture books are getting younger and younger, fewer and fewer words these days. I miss the days of the older, more sophisticated picture book. I have about 30 unsold picture books in my files.

The decline in the picture book market has many picture book lovers--writers and readers--fretting their future. Is it right to worry? Is the dip temporary, do you think? Cyclical?

Cyclical (she says, fingers crossed).

It seems that every day a book is banned somewhere for some reason. Have any of your books been challenged or banned? (I thought perhaps your award-winning Holocaust-related fantasy novel, The Devil's Arithmetic (Viking, 1988), if simply because of the title).

DA has certainly been banned. But Briar Rose [Tor, 1992] was burned on the steps of the Kansas City Board of Education building.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Josie's Gift by Kathleen Long Bostrom, illustrated by Frank Ordaz (Broadman & Holman, 2005). From the flap copy: "This Christmas will be the most difficult one for Josie, her mother, and her little brother, Bobby Joe. It is the first holiday for this Depression-era family since the death of their father and husband. Papa had always taught this simple family that 'Christmas is not about what we want. It's about what we have.' But this Christmas, all Josie can think about is what she had lost. Josie begs her mother for a new blue sweater she has been admiring in the store window for weeks. She knows they can't afford it, but she wants desperately to know joy again. In the form of three visitors and a surprise sacrificial gift on Christmas morning, Josie finds the joy she is seeking in the true meaning of Christmas."

What was your inspiration for creating this book?

I wrote the story for a Christmas Eve sermon. I am a Presbyterian minister, and co-pastor a church with my husband. We have a congregation with many children, especially on Christmas Eve, and I decided to write a story to preach, hoping that would be meaningful and hold everyone's attention! I wrote "Josie" the year my mother died of lung cancer, so I was dealing with the grief of facing my first Christmas without her. My mother had a sister named Josie, so that became the name I used for the character in my story.

What was the timeline from spark to publication, and what were the major events along the way?

When writing a sermon, I have a very short timeline! I had the idea weeks before I started writing, and spent a lot of time letting the ideas "percolate" in my mind. The actual writing took place in a matter of days, sporadically fitting it in along with pastoring a church and taking care of my children who were 11, 13, and 15 at the time.

What were the challenges (literary, research, psychological, logistical) in bringing it to life?

The challenge was letting the story change as I wrote it, but that's always a fun challenge! I had a different idea for the sweater, but as I wrote, the blue sweater and the giving of that sweater took precedence. I remember my mom telling me about one Christmas when she was a young teenager. She lived in West Virginia during the Depression, and had 11 brothers and sisters. The family was very poor. One year, her younger sister opened up her Christmas present (she only got one) and then woke my mother up and told her that she had received a beautiful new sweater! My mother was heartbroken that she didn't get to open the present herself, as it was something extra special for her that year. Some years, the kids only received oranges in their stockings. A sweater was a precious and expensive gift, and my Mom didn't even get the joy of opening her own present!

I had to let the characters and plot take on their own lives, and the story turned out better once I let go of some of my own ideas as to how it should be written!

What, if any, special challenges are part of writing and publishing a holiday book?

The biggest challenge is the same as when I'm writing a sermon for Christmas Eve. Everyone knows the story of the birth of baby Jesus. How do I tell the story and give it new meaning, so that people will gain something from hearing it? Plus, there are so many new holiday books every year. How do I write something new, something that hasn't been done before, that will illuminate the true meaning of the holiday without sounding "preachy" . Believe it or not, as a minister, I try never to sound "preachy." Let the story tell the story, without pounding the point.

What, if any, special challenges are part of writing children's books with religious themes?

The last part of the previous answer explains some of this - trying not to sound preachy, especially to children. I take my "audience" seriously and don't believe in being condescending. Children are so bright, and often have a deeper understanding of spirituality and religious themes than adults. The kids aren't quite so "jaded" as adults. To kids, questions about spirituality and faith spring forth in an innocent and eager way. Kids are more willing to ask questions about faith, and often I find they have the best answers themselves!

Kelly Herold at Big A little a reviews Tofu and T. rex by Greg Leitich Smith (Little Brown, 2005). She writes: "Tofu and T. Rex is really about what it means to be a family and putting up with idiosyncrasies because you have to find the best in the ones you love. A very cute read for the 8-12 crowd." She also notes: "Freddie is militant in the way only pre- and teenagers can be..." This reminds me of how much I love Freddie and how much I love Shohei for being attracted to a girl with strong convictions. Read the review.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

One Splendid Tree by Marilyn Helmer, illustrated by Dianne Eastman (Kids Can Press, 2005). From the catalog copy: "With Daddy away fighting in the Second World War, Hattie, Junior and Momma have had to move to the city so Momma can take a factory job. Money is tight, and this year a Christmas tree is a luxury the family cannot afford. But Junior finds an abandoned plant in the hallway, and in his eyes, it holds the promise of Christmas magic. If he can only convince Hattie, maybe they can have a tree after all! Marilyn Helmer's tender story and Dianne Eastman's richly detailed photocollage art bring this Christmas past to vivid life. Includes instructions on how to make your own snowman decoration!"

What was your inspiration for creating this book?

Actually several things inspired me. I like to set writing goals for myself and one of my goals was to have a Christmas book published. The reason - I love Christmas!

Another inspiration came from the many anecdotes my parents told me about life on the home front during World War II. I used some of these in the story, such as the family not being able to afford a Christmas tree and the children having to wear boots and shoes that don’t fit because that was all they had.

Also I’m a firm believer in the inventiveness, creativity and perseverance of children, especially in difficult times. This theme crops up over and over again in my books and short stories.

What was the timeline from spark to publication, and what were the major events along the way?

That is difficult to say because I tend to work on more than one manuscript at a time. I do this so that, if I run into difficulty with one story, I can switch to another and thus avoid the dreaded writer’s block (well, most of the time anyway). If memory serves me correctly, I began writing “One Splendid Tree” about five years before it appeared in print.

Once my publisher accepted it, I went to work with a wonderful and talented editor, Debbie Rogosin. Together we edited, revised and polished. Then we got down to the nitty gritty of switching a word here and changing a phrase there to create the best story we possibly could. Believe it or not, that is my favorite part of the publication process. My publisher, Kids Can Press, is fastidious about the quality of their books which is one reason why I am delighted to have them as my publisher.

What were the challenges (literary, research, psychological, logistical) in bringing it to life?

When Kids Can Press first read the manuscript, they suggested that I add more wartime atmosphere and references. “One Splendid Tree” was already on the lengthy side for a picture book, so the challenge was not only to add these to the story but to do it in an economy of words. I did a lot of research on World War II, especially about life on the home front.

Victory bonds, war savings stamps, Salvage Drives, rationing and the necessity of saving anything that was reusable are all referred to in the story. At a recent reading, when I came to the part about Hattie saving the brown paper from a package, an elderly gentleman in the audience called out, “I remember doing that!”.

I even researched the children’s names to be sure that the ones I had chosen were popular in the 1940s. I have to say though, that if I did a lot of research for the story, just imagine how much more the illustrator, Dianne Eastman, did for her exceptional photo-collage artwork!

Psychologically, and this holds true for any story you write, the author needs to get into the mind and psyche of the characters to decide how they will act and react in various situations. I wanted Junior, the youngest, to be the leader and his sister, Hattie, to create conflict with her initial reservations about the plant decorating. Though the mother and father appear as minor characters, my goal was to show it was their love and caring that made Hattie and Junior believe in the magic of Christmas and spread that belief to those around them.

What, if any, special challenges are part of writing and publishing a holiday book?

Holiday seasons come and go quickly so there is a much shorter time frame than usual in which to publicize the book. In the case of a Christmas book, you basically have from mid-November until Christmas.

I was very fortunate in that my publisher scheduled a number of bookstore reading events for me. As an added attraction I demonstrated a snowman craft (the pattern appears at the back of the book) at one reading and at others I made decorations like the ones Hattie, Junior and their neighbours make and invited the audience to help “turn a plain old plant into one splendid tree.” These ideas were the brainstorm of Kids Can’s publicist, Melissa Nowakowski, and the children were only to happy to help.

One event included me reading with Santa at a large mall. Santa and I taking turns reading alternate pages of the book. The children loved it - they thought I was Mrs. Claus!

Kahani's First Young Writers Contest: Kahani is a South Asian literary magazine for children. It invites all storytellers between the ages of 6 and 11 to write a 500-word short story. The theme is up to the writer but the story must use the words "rickshaw," "mango," and "elephant." Entries will be divided into 6-8 and 9-11 age groups. Sangeeta Mehta, an editor at Little Brown, will be the judge. The deadline is Dec. 31, 2005. See complete rules and entry form. Note: Pooja Makhijani, author of Mama's Saris (Little Brown, 2006), is the Kahani book reviewer and author Uma Krishnaswami is on the advisory board.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Congratulations to Anjali Banerjee, whose novel Imaginary Men (Downtown Press, 2005)(grown-up novel, which I read and found adorable!) has won the 2005 Book of the Year Award (romance) from Thabiz.com, an Urban Entertainment, Celebrity Interview and Pop Culture Website. Anjali also is the author of Maya Running (Wendy Lamb Books, 2005). Contact her for free signed and personalized book plates.

Highlights from the new HarperCollins summer 2006 catalog include: A Small White Scar by debut author K.A. Nuzum; In the Company of Crazies by Nora Raleigh Baskin; Doppleganger by David Stahler Jr.; Jumping the Scratch by Sarah Weeks; The Return of the Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac; Vampire Kisses 3: Vampireville by Ellen Schreiber. And from Greenwillow: Play, Mozart, Play! by Peter Sis; The Secret of the Rose by Sarah L. Thomson; Store-Bought Baby by Sandra Belton.

Writing for Children Competition: offered annually to discover developing Canadian writers of unpublished children's/young adult fiction or nonfiction. Open to Canadian citizens or landed immigrants who have not been published in book format and who do not currently have a contract with a publisher. This contest has a deadline of April 24 and prize of $1,500. See also Children's Book Publishing in Canada by Bev Cooke from The Purple Crayon.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Young adult novels in particular really shined (so many of them in pink that I've labeled one of my bookshelves the Malibu Barbie YA Fiction Collection).

Across the age ranges, humor was strong, and, hopefully, will finally receive some overdue critical recognition. What's more, debut voices were among the brightest and best.

It's always hard to pick favorites, but then again, why not take advantage of the opportunity to highlight?

The following is not a list of predictions for ALA or other award programs, but rather the top choices I'm recommending to cynsational readers.

That said, I stand behind all of this year's recommendations and urge you to also consult the archives on this blog and the bibliographies on my site. And of course, as always, I'm only one person with so much reading time. I'll continue reading 2005 and other backlist titles even though the 2006 ARCs have begun to arrive. I encourage y'all to do likewise.

I'm not the byline author on Tofu and T. rex by Greg Leitich Smith (Little Brown, 2005) or Moccasin Thunder: American Indian Stories for Today edited by Lori M. Carlson (HarperCollins, 2005). But the former is by my husband and the latter includes one of my stort stories, "A Real-Live Blond Cherokee and His Equally Annoyed Soul Mate." Therefore, however much I appreciate those books, it seems a conflict of interest to consider them for purposes of picking the Cynsational Books for 2005. That said, I do hope you'll seek out those titles and that you enjoy them as much as I do.

While I enjoyed a bit of excellent non-fiction this year, I don't feel as though I read enough of it to give a thoughtful endorsement of a slate of books as "cynsational."

I'd also like to point out that many of this year's pink books are absolute literary gems!

Thursday, December 08, 2005

"Most controversial books are really about moral choices, and what makes them controversial is the necessity of presenting the other option. It's not a choice unless the reader understands the alternative.

Elise made the above comment in the context of a discussion on one of my author list servs. I found it so insightful that I asked her permission to share it with cynsational readers, and she graciously agreed. Thanks, Elise!

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About

New York Times & Publishers Weekly best-selling, award-winning author the Tantalize series, the Feral series and other critically acclaimed fiction for young readers. She/her. MFA Faculty, Vermont College of Fine Arts. Board member, We Need Diverse Books. Ohonvyetv!

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Robin Galbraith holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Intern

Kate Pentecost holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is the YA author of Elysium Girls (Hyperion, winter 2020). Kate is represented by Sara Crowe of Pippin Properties.